What Once Was Beautiful
by Silmaril Eyes
Summary: Gandalf finds the strangest of letters while searching for Isildur's scrolls in Minas Tirith.


Gandalf was weary as his search through the scrolls of Minas Tirith, hidden deep within the studies below the white city, continued seemingly without end or success. The steward Denethor was a veritable hoarder when it came to his scrolls, and he kept everything. Finding Isildur's letters was becoming a near-impossible mission. Every single blasted piece of paper looked the same: yellowed, torn, and full of silverfish and other paper- eating insects. Gandalf sighed in disgust as he flicked a few of the little creatures off yet another stack of papers, the first few leaves flying off the pile.   
  
Something white caught his eye, and Gandalf frowned, leafing through the pile, stopping when he came to a white sheet, perfectly clean and perfectly smooth, spidery handwriting in blue ink covering it. Gandalf's frown deepened as he peered at the first line, then his eyes went wide with surprise.   
  
_ "Friday, January 25th, Year 2002 of the Sixth Age." _  
  
"Impossible!" the Grey Istari gasped out, "Such times...the Sixth Age...that would be over six thousand years from now! How can this be...? And why is it here, amongst writings so old the Elves would scarcely remember them?"   
  
Still shocked, he began to read the rest of the letter...   
  
  
_ "Suddenly, what was sacred and pure has become perverted and everyone's property.   
  
"I hate it.   
  
"_Lord of the Rings_. It was...it was something else. I used to get laughed at for being into it. Used to get called a geek for liking it. And now...now everyone's into it. Stupid newbies who probably wouldn't know what "elen sila lumenn' omentielvo" meant if I threw it at them. Fangirls who think it's cool to write Mary-Sues and "SLASH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" everyone with everyone. Idiots who say "Frodo and Sam 4 EVA!" and other such crap. People who suddenly think "Elijah Wood/Orlando Bloom/Viggo Mortensen" and "Lord of the Rings" are synonyms. People who have _never read the book._   
  
"I honestly wish, now, that Peter Jackson had never, ever made that movie. The movie? I have nothing against it! It's a wonderful movie. But with everything that's wonderful...comes hype.  
  
Another such wish is that the movie would be in production forever, but never released. Silly, isn't it? But for teenage LotR fans, who were honestly and truly fans, the twelve months before the movie was released...it was our...our Gondolin. Hidden from the world, yet the most beautiful thing you could ever imagine.   
  
"It was our Renaissance.   
  
"Stories were written, wonderful stories that were sad, romantic, joyous, and humorous. They weren't five-minute 'dash off something on Notepad' efforts, they were true stories, stories worthy of reviews and stories that made the reader wish for another chapter, and another and another...   
  
"Mary-Sue barely existed back then.   
  
"There was companionship on the message boards, friendship. Tolerance. People who didn't know the meaning of StIcKy CaPs or bad "grammer adn, speling".   
  
"There was joy, giggles and anticipation, as someone unearthed a new picture from the film, as a movie-clip was found. There were protests against changes from the book. There were people learning Quenya, wondering if they'd be able to speak it or even understand it by the time the movie came around.   
  
"Ah...the movie came around...   
  
"I didn't notice it at first, but two or three weeks after the initial euphoria and disappointment, in some cases, had died down, I noticed it. Everywhere...the real fans were getting buried, buried amongst slash, fangirls, Arwen being a bitch, Mary-Sues and 'ELIJAH WOOD IS SO HOT!!!' For god's sake...I am a LotR fan; I want to read about LotR, not the stars of the movie or gratuitous male sex or Legolas and your accursed Mary-Sue!   
  
"I thought it would pass. I thought they would fade; lose interest; or at least read the books and become a little more learned. But I was wrong. So very, very wrong. It kept coming, in a steady stream. And it doesn't look like it's going to stop any time soon.   
  
"Something inside me twists when I see all this. Maybe it's my heart...but that would be somewhat silly, wouldn't it? After all, it's just a book.   
  
"...a book I love dearly, with characters I grew up with. One month watching a film cannot possibly measure up to almost eight years reading Professor Tolkien's wonderful books. It just can't, and there is no way you can possibly say it can. Professor Tolkien...I wonder what he thinks of all this, watching from the other world.   
  
"To think, there will be another two movies...another two years of this. To be honest, it makes me want to run and hide. It makes me feel sick, and disheartened. Perhaps...perhaps it would just be better to forget about LotR, and just...remember. Pretend. Other such things.   
  
"Alas, alas! I weep for what once was beautiful. Gondolin has once again fallen."   
  
_

-- Kirryn  
who apparently 'looks like Liv Tyler'  
and was otherwise known as Arwen"

  
Gandalf set down the letter, his eyes wide and his mind full of questions, questions that could not even be answered by the Wise, not this time. He sat back, staring at the paper for a long moment.   
  
Presently he sighed, and put the perfect sheet back amongst the weathered stack of parchment.   
  
"Alas," he murmured, "For that which may still be beautiful."   
  
He continued looking for Isildur's scrolls.   
  
  
------  
A/N - I only took a wild guess as to what age we would currently be in now. The Sixth Age sounds about right.  
- Yes, it's a letter. Yes, it's how I feel currently. Sounds elitist, stupid, dramatic? Probably. And quite frankly, I don't care. 


End file.
